New York City Ballet: Contemporary Choreography

David H. Koch Theater, New York City
October 11, 2024

New York City Ballet’s Contemporary Choreography programme, the company’s first-ever all-female affair, proved an evening that got better as it went along. While Gianna Reisen’s restaged Signs, created for the School of American Ballet in 2022, and Caili Quan’s new Beneath the Tides both showed promise, perhaps it was no surprise that both were well and truly trumped by the more experienced Tiler Peck’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

Danced to a selection of lesser-known Philip Glass piano pieces, Reisen’s Signs is not short on ideas. The problem is that there are almost too many of them. Lots of them have much going for them but little gets developed, little evolves. The result is a work that is hard to get a real handle on.

It opens with four couples dancing slowly in close-embrace. Olivia Bell listens to the pianist before walking towards and similarly embracing another woman. It may tick a box but it feels heavy-handed. The rest of the opening ‘March of the Mourning Dove’ features much use of a vertical line of dancers sweeping across the stage, one dropping out to dance their own short variation before being picked up again. It gives plenty of opportunity for solo moments in the spotlight, and for emoting, of which there was also too much.

The second movement pas de deux (Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Harrison Coll) clearly depicts a relationship where all is not well. But as the section’s title, ‘To Begin Again’ implies, there does appear to be some sort of reconciliation before the ensemble return.

Standing out in the third ‘Dragonflies’ movement was Mia Williams, who only graduated from SAB in 2023 and who is in her first year as a corps member after twelve months as an apprentice. Her dancing showed lovely clarity and sense of purpose, with a beautiful lyricism at times too.

Signs is not without its moments but it does lack direction. Signs, direction posts, for sure. Lots of them. But I’m not sure where they are pointing.

Beneath the Tides by former BalletX dancer Caili Quan, is set to Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1. It’s a ballet that evokes times past, a feeling helped by the black drapes that frame the stage and fashion designer Gilles Mendel’s costumes, especially his long, body-hugging dresses for the women that leave one-shoulder bare. It’s a bit like we’ve stumbled into a lost baroque world.

But the work frequently has a distinctly contemporary vibe too. Mendel’s costumes for the men, who wear corsets but are otherwise bare-chested, are just one example. Quan’s choreography juxtaposes past and present, tradition and modernity too. At times, it is decidedly formal. But, elsewhere, while classicism never disappears, it is broken, diluted; the dance breaking free and feeling very modern. Beaneath the Tides is a very different piece, but, in tone, I found myself recalling Angelin Prelocaj’s Le Park.

After a striking opening that sees Sara Mearns held aloft by Gilbert Bolden III, slowly rotating like a music-box figure, the ballet develops nicely. Quan makes full use of the emotions and inherent in the score. Partnerships constantly seem to be in flux. Jules Mabie and Aarón Sanz dance together and partner others. Towards the end, Mearns and Tiler Peck dance the same steps alongside each other.

More than anything, Beneath the Tides has atmosphere, though. An intriguing sense of mystery, although it all means is left very much for the viewer to decide. While it left me unsure, it also left me wanting to revisit it.

From the moment it explodes into life, Peck’s Concerto for Two Pianos is an absolute delight. Largely bright and breezy, although there is one dreamy section, the intelligently structured choreography is as highly-skilled as the dancing. There are soloists, but they always have a lovely sense of one-ness with the corps, who often sweep across the stage. It’s witty too, with little moments that make you smile dotted throughout. And let’s not forget Zac Posen’s relatively simple yet elegant costumes.

There is so much to enjoy. Roman Mejia shows off in an energetic menage. India Bradley (who stood out throughout) and Emma von Enck make a striking pair in a duet of speedy and very precise pizzicato footwork. More understated but definitely elegant is Chun Wai Chan. And then the glamourous Mira Nadon. Who can resist?

Created earlier this year, Concerto for Two Pianos is not just a fine work to end a programme, one guaranteed to send the audience home happy, but one that shows the dancers off to their absolute best. You can’t help feeling that this is not just the sort of dance they are seriously good at, but that they really enjoy performing. I suspect Concerto is going to be around in the rep for a very long time.